Author's Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting

The flames flickered in every direction. Everything was burning. The trees, the grass, the rocks, and even the ground. In the midst of all those flames and heat was the figure of a girl. 

She had long black hair that had a shade of red and was holding a staff in her hands. Her body was totally covered with hungrily burning flames yet she was not taking any damage from it. It was as if all the flames were under her command. 

Which was true, in a sense…

"Ichigo!" she said, her voice full of anger. Her eyes showed the hatred she carried and looked as if they were burning themselves. 

She was Xara, one of the three adventurers whom Zero had abandoned inside the labyrinth in the Gannett town. Due to his actions, her other two friends had died right before her eyes and she completely blamed Zero—or Ichigo, the fake name he gave to them—for it. 

However, to understand how she arrived at her current state, we will have to turn the wheel of time back a bit to know what happened. 

***

"Idiot…please…don't cry," were the last words she heard from Spene before his soul left his body and he lay there limp on the ground. 

Tears fell down her eyes she touched his face, shaking his body in hopes of waking him up. Both none of them worked. He, after all, was dead. 

She cried and cried a lot. However, when she was done with crying she remembered. She remembered the face of the person who caused all of this, and a fire of hatred was ignited in her heart. 

And that fire gave birth to the flames of revenge. 

"I'll…kill you," she said, her words carrying the weight of all her hatred and anger. 

At the same time, a bunch of goblins jumped at her from the side. They were no different from Zero. After all, they also played a part in the death of her friends. 

"Firestorm," she said, raising her staff toward the goblins. A cloud of fire formed at the head of her staff and was blasted toward the goblins, burning them alive. 

Although the attack was not as powerful as it should've been since she had run out of mana and by now only a small amount of it had been replenished. 

She stood up and looked around her. This was a labyrinth, a nest for monsters. There was no decrease in the number of goblins running towards her. 

"I'll kill you all, everyone!" she said, her expression a mix of disgust, anger, and sadness. 

She raised her staff straight up, concentrating all her mana in the magic crystal at the head of the staff. 

"Inferno." "Firestorm." "Fireball." 

A tempest of flames spiraled into existence around her, rapidly expanding in size within a matter of seconds. Stationed at the epicenter of this fiery vortex, she stood impervious, rendering any attempt by goblins futile as they were incinerated upon approach.

Subsequently, an eruption at the zenith of the tornado triggered the launch of numerous fireballs in every conceivable direction. Upon impact, these incendiary projectiles ignited, unleashing a conflagration that mercilessly consumed the surrounding area, swiftly decimating any goblin foolish enough to draw near.

This went on for a minute or so before the tornado finally disappeared. Xara took a step forward but stumbled, her vision went blurry and she was about to fall down but she prevented that by forcing herself into consciousness. 

The results of overusing her mana were beginning to show, and even she knew that she'd die of mana exhaustion if she continued to go on like this. 

However, she did not have any other choice. There were only two options: either get killed by the goblins or die of mana exhaustion. She chose the latter. 

Moving forward she raised her staff yet again, casting five fireballs at once and launching them toward the goblins. Her fireballs had also improved since now they exploded upon contact—though that obviously took more mana out of her as well.

She stopped for a moment to take a break when she noticed that she had cleared out the goblins around herself. She drilled the staff on the ground and stood by leaning on it. 

Her heartbeat was skyrocketing and she was panting intensely, her vision was getting less and less clear with each passing minute yet she continued to move forward. 

Soon the break time was over and she heard the screams and roars of the goblins coming from all directions. 

She stood up, holding her staff. 

"Explosion!" she chanted. "Explosion!" she said again. 

"Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!"

She kept repeating the spell over and over, wreaking havoc inside the labyrinth. Since now there was no one inside the labyrinth other than herself she didn't care about how much damage she dealt or in which direction she fired her spells. 

All she wanted was to kill her enemies, and she was doing that quite well. 

Though with each spell she grew weaker, but that was not enough to stop her. 

Or was it?

It may sound good to the ears, but you can't change the facts and the laws of the world. It didn't matter what her intentions or motivations were, it didn't matter how unfair the world was to her, the rules were still the same. 

She completely ran out of mana and the exhaustion hit her. She fell onto her knees and lost her vision. She could still hear the sounds of the goblins who were running towards her. 

In the end, no matter how many of them she killed they still came back. That's how it was fighting inside a labyrinth, it was as if there were an infinite number of monsters. 

There was no way out for her now. All she could do now was wait for death to relieve her from this cruel world. 

However…

"I refuse to accept this!" she screamed. 

"I can't die yet! If died then there would be no one left to kill him! I have to be the one—NO! I WILL be the one to kill him! I'll take my revenge and only think to die after that!"

The pain of being betrayed by Zero and the death of his friends was stinging deep inside her heart, and that heart now longed for revenge. She wanted to make Zero go through the same amount of suffering she did and feel the same amount of pain. And to accomplish that, she was willing to do anything. 

"I REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANY OUTCOME OTHER THAN THAT!!!"